The formal campaign against the Mersey
Tunnel tolls was launched on the
14th January 2013 by Paul Nuttall, UKIP MEP for the North
West, a long time opponent of the tolls.

UKIPs campaign to
scrap tolls in the UK was
originally launched at the
Dartford Crossing way back in
2002 by UKIP leader Nigel Farage
MEP and London MEP Gerard Batten.
Join them and the tens of
thousands of others who begrudge
paying to cross something we,
the taxpayers, already own.

Scrap the Tolls - they're
highway robbery

UKIP Transport
Spokesman speaks out against tolls as M6
Expressway demo draws support

16:30hrs Tuesday 24th March 2015

UKIP today held its
latest national day of action against
Britain’s toll roads,
describing them as ‘highway robbery’.

Party activists delivered
the message by unfurling huge banners at
a series of ‘Stop The Tolls’
demonstrations on road toll sites across
the UK.

Shropshire and
Staffordshire UKIP members congregated
at the Mill Lane Bridge, over the M6
Toll at Cheslyn Hay in the West
Midlands.

The party’s Transport
spokesman, Jill Seymour MEP, said
drivers were already paying more than
enough in taxes to deserve free access
to the entire UK transport network.

Mrs Seymour, who is
fighting The Wrekin seat for UKIP at the
general election, said: “Charging to
use our busiest motorways or trunk roads
is adding insult to injury to the
already over-burdened British driver.

“UKIP is opposed to
this highway robbery. We want to block
the introduction of any new toll roads,
and work towards removing existing tolls
from publicly owned roads.

“The taxes we already pay
as road users should be more than enough
to afford the best road network in the
world.

“Putting road tolls on
top of the fuel tax, excise duty and VAT
which we already pay is simply wrong.”

"The government has to
realise that motorists are not just a
cash-cow to finance other grandiose
schemes, like the white elephant HS2
rail project.”

Four UKIP prospective
parliamentary candidates were at the M6
Toll protest, including Andrew Illsley,
who is fighting the Stone seat.

He said: “The response
we received was once again excellent. We
got lots of support from drivers, who
were enthusiastically honking their
horns to back our campaign.”

UKIP Deputy Leader Paul Nuttall MEP joined protesters at the Wallasey tunnel on Merseyside this morning as part of UKIP's 'Day of Action' on road tolls.

UKIP’s “Scrap the Tolls” campaign was launched by UKIP leader Nigel Farage in 2002, and this year’s protest has been dubbed the largest to date, with protestors and activists at the Wallasey tunnel, Dartford Crossing, Severn Crossing, Tyne Tunnel, M6 Toll Road and the London Congestion Charge Zone.

He said: “Our opposition to road tolling is longstanding, and our campaign gets larger every year. Road tolls are bad for the environment, bad for traffic congestion and bad for motorists’ wallets.

“They represent nothing more than a stealth tax on motorists who already pay road tax to use the public road network in the UK.”

UKIP PPC for Dartford Elizabeth Jones joined local branch members and campaigners at the Dartford Crossing as another UKIP 'day of action' on road tolling across the UK kicked off.

With charging on the Dartford Crossing now entirely electronic, crossing operators have still managed to ensure the River Thames' most seaward river crossing remains a bottleneck on the M25 London Orbital Motorway.

Elizabeth said, "The tolls are nothing more than highway robbery.

"Every toll paid is a reminder of the bad faith of successive Labour and Tory politicians who have promised for over 50 years to remove the tolls and have failed to do so.

"Meanwhile, Dartford residents are stuck with traffic gridlock, needless expense and the worst air pollution in the country.

"UKIP has been fighting the tolling here at Dartford for over a decade, and remain committed to seeing these tolls removed."

Ms Jones was speaking as UKIP activists across the UK targeted other toll points, including the Severn & Mersey Crossings, the Tyne Tunnel and the M6 Expressway in the West Midlands.

UKIP Deputy Leader Paul Nuttall MEP, who joined protesters at the Mersey Tunnels, echoed Ms Jones' words, and also condemned tolling as 'Highway robbery which hits the poorest members of society the hardest'.

"At least Dick Turpin wore a mask", he said. " 'Road Toll Ahead' is the modern day equivalent of 'Stand and Deliver' ".

UKIPs Dartford branch marked Sunday's 25% increase in toll charges for cars using the M25 Dartford Crossing with a protest at Junction 1A this morning (Friday 28th November). The toll increase comes alongside the long-planned move to electronic tolling which will see the removal of the toll booths over the weekend and their replacement with an automated system.

UKIP's Parliamentary Candidate for Dartford Elizabeth Jones was joined by members of the local branch highlighting UKIP's long-running 'Scrap the Tolls' campaign, which was founded at Dartford in 2002 by UKIP leader Nigel Farage.

Ms Jones said, "The increase in toll charges will particularly affect ordinary people, as it is private cars which face the largest increase. Hauliers and other goods users of the crossing face rises of 20%. It is and always has been highway robbery.

"There are only two beneficiaries of the new regime. The government, who will continue to milk motorists for a crossing they have already paid for many times over, and the drivers of foreign registered vehicles, who will escape paying any tolls at all unless they do so voluntarily as the toll charges can not be collected overseas whatever the government might say. "

UKIP staged a ‘Ban the Tolls” protest at Runcorn Bridge today as part of their national action day on road tolls.

Local branch members and others activists from further afield campaigned on the bridge during the morning rush hour in protest at proposed tolls being introduced when the new Mersey Gateway bridge opens.

“They are proposing to levy a £2 one way toll which will be a huge burden on both business and individuals,” said Philip Busow, chairman of the Runcorn UKIP branch.

“We have been assured that residents living in the Halton borough area will be exempt. But they will have to pay a registration fee for each vehicle they own, and whatever figure is initially charged you can bet your bottom dollar it will steadily rise each year.

“UKIP is totally against tolls on any bridge or tunnel and the party has staged numerous protests about this since 2002 all over the country, including the Mersey tunnel.

“The new and old Runcorn crossings will have the same electronic technology as used to collect the London congestion charge which will catch thousands of motorists out and bring in a tidy sum for the local authority by way of fines.

“It is wrong in principle that motorists should have to pay to use a stretch of road, it is nothing more than a stealth tax. We all pay our road tax and these crossings should all be considered as part of the national road network and be toll free,” said Mr Busow.

Local MEP Paul Nuttall, UKIP deputy leader said, "Modern day motorists are fleeced by ANPR cameras and electronic tolling systems rather than by a man wearing a mask and brandishing pistols, but we should make no mistake - it is still highway robbery.”

UKIP transport
spokesman joins local MEPs in Dartford
Crossing protest
Thursday 20th November 2014UKIP
Transport Spokesman Jill Seymour joined
Thurrock resident Tim Aker MEP and SE
MEP Janice Atkinson ahead of a 25%
increase in tolls on the Dartford
Crossing due to come into force on the
30th November. The increase comes as the
tolling switches to electronic, with the
tool booths being removed.

Mrs
Seymour heard how the new regime
effectively makes paying the tolls
voluntary for the drivers of foreign
registered vehicles as despite promises
from the operator and the government,
there remains no means by which such
tolls can be recovered.

Largest day of
action yet for Scrap the Tolls campaign
Monday 4th March 2014UKIP
activists held their biggest ever day of
action against road tolls yesterday as
protesters took to the road at toll
routes across the UK.

At the M6 Toll road in the West
Midlands, UKIP candidate Jill Seymour
lead a dozen protesters as they unfurled
'Scrap the Tolls' banners before being
interviewed by local media. Jill pointed
out that the M6 toll has proved to be
madness as it sits largely unused,
forcing government to spend more than
the toll road cost upgrading the old,
untolled M6 - the precise thing it was
designed to prevent.

Meanwhile, at the Tyne Tunnel, UKIP's
Richard Elvin and his local campaign
team highlighted how the tunnel had been
built by a French company using Polish
and Portuguese workers hired at below UK
minimum wage rates in their own
countries despite promises about how the
construction would bring 'local jobs'.
Richard said that under the PFI deal,
road users would pay over £539m for a
tunnel which cost £139m to build.

UKIP Deputy Leader Paul Nuttall was at
the Mersey Crossing with his local
activists, where he said, "Toll routes
are nothing more than highway robbery -
ANPR cameras and automated tolling
suites may be more advanced than pistols
and a cry of 'stand and deliver', but
Dick Turpin would recognise it none the
less. Tolling hits the less well off
disproportionately and should be
scrapped for the benefit of all. Here on
Merseyside, abolishing tolls would
benefit both Liverpool and Wirral."

Events also took place in the London
Congestion Charge Zone with London MEP
Gerard Battern, at the Dartford Crossing
with Cllr Jamie Huntman and Jan
Atkinson, and on the Severn Crossing
with UKIP Wales' Nathan Gill.

UKIP Deputy
Leader at Mersey Tunnel
Monday 3rd March 2014UKIP Deputy
Leader Paul Nuttall MEP joined the
protests at the Mersey tunnel this
morning. A group of over a dozen UKIP
activists took part in the
demonstration, which is still ongoing
(11:00am).

There was
a heavy media presence with BBC NW TV, 7
local radio stations and a number of
local newspapers covering the Mersey day
of action: a video of Paul is available
at the Liverpool Echo
website here

This
morning's protest is the third held by
UKIP in the past two years there. As
Paul says, the tolls are nothing more
than highway robbery - "In the old days
it was pistols and a mask, now it's ANPR
cameras and automated tolling but the
principle is the same, and it's always
the motorist who gets fleeced".

M6 Toll Road
protest in full swing
Monday 3rd March 2014More than a
dozen UKIP anti-road toll campaigners
joined UKIP West Midlands lead candidate
Jill Seymour to protest against the M6
Toll Road this morning.

As at
Dartford, drivers tooted their support
as Jill described the mess that is the
M6 to the local ITV station plus
reporters from several local newspapers.
The M6 Toll Road was built to relieve
congestion on the M6 though Birmingham,
but is unused because of the high cost:
the Highways Agency has been forced to
enlarge the old, untolled M6 at a cost
greater than the cost of building the
Toll Road which was supposed to relieve
the congestion!

Dartford
Crossing protest brings toots of support
from drivers
Monday 3rd March 2014UKIP's 12th
anniversary protest against the Dartford
Crossing tolls brought toots of support
from drivers joining the northbound
queues this morning. Janice Atkinson,
UKIP SE candidate, and Cllr Jamie
Huntman, the leader of the UKIP group on
Essex County Council, were joined by
activists and local media at the M25
Junction 1A flyover just before the toll
booths as the UKIP 'Scrap the Tolls'
banner was unfurled.

Janice
and Jamie were interviewed by BBC Radio
Kent & Essex - on the latter station,
Breakfast Show presenter James Whale
opened the phone lines up for callers,
but as of 8:50am had been unable to find
anyone willing to defend continued
tolling. The story ran at the top of the
news all morning.

Day of Action marks
12th anniversary of UKIP anti-tolling
campaign
Sunday 2nd March 2014The 12th
anniversary of UKIP's "Scrap the Tolls"
protest will be marked tomorrow (Monday
3rd March) by the party's largest ever
day of action.

Protesters across the UK will be
unfurling banners demanding that road
tolls be scrapped in multiple locations,
including the Dartford Crossing, Mersey
Tunnel, Severn Crossing, Tyne Tunnel, M6
Toll Motorway and the London Congestion
Charge Zone.

UKIP
Deputy Leader Paul Nuttall MEP, who will
be at the Mersey Tunnel protest, said,
"We will continue to protest until the
tolls stop. We are opposed to road
tolling, which has a disproportionate
effect on the less well off: the
ordinary commuters who are already
having to struggle to make a living. It
is regressive and unfair, and we already
pay road tax to use the public road
network.

"Government has to realise that
motorists are not just a cash-cow to
finance their grandiose schemes and
foreign aid budget. We have been
protesting for 12 years now, and will
protest for as long as it takes to stop
this highway robbery."

Mersey Tunnel
protesters out in force
Monday 19th March 2013 10:30hrsA large
crowd of protesters lead by UKIP Deputy
Leader Paul Nuttall were out in force on
the overpass at the Wallasey entrance to
the Kingsway tunnel yesterday. The
protest, originally scheduled to finish
at 9am, was extended until 12 noon
because of the support received from
motorists, with over half the cars
passing underneath reportedly waving or
tooting their support!

Mr
Nuttall said he was delighted with the
response, and said it indicated just how
strongly motorists felt at being treated
as a cash cow by successive governments.
Describing the tolls as a 'regressive
tax which hits the poorest the hardest',
he said, "We already pay road tax and
fuel duty to use the road network. These
tolls are nothing more than highway
robbery which leaves motorists with no
choice but to keep paying. At least Dick
Turpin had the grace to wear a mask, but
government seems to have no shame."

M6 Toll Road in
Protesters sights
Monday 18th March 2013 17:30hrsMike
Nattrass, UKIP MEP for the West Midlands
joined campaigners and local councillors
on the M6 Toll Road this afternoon. The
road, which lost £40m last year as canny
Brummies stayed away, was as empty as
usual (inset, in picture below), while
the old M6, which is untolled, was at
its usual standstill.

Mr
Nattrass, UKIP’s national Transport
Spokesman, said: “The M6 Toll is a
complete laughing stock. It has been an
abject failure.

“The M6 Toll was designed to be a relief
road for the M6 but it has failed to
relieve the road due to the fact that
motorists, quite rightly, resent paying
the exorbitant and ever spiralling toll
charges to use the route.

“In 2012 figures from Midlands
Expressway Ltd, the operators of the M6
Toll, showed that the Toll had its worst
ever year.

“Roads should be free to all and the
days when Barons and Dick Turpin took
money off travellers should be over.
UKIP’s message is clear, scrap the
tolls.”

Campaign launch at
Tyne Tunnel 'a roaring success'
Monday 18th March 2013 15:30hrsScrap the
Tolls protesters were joined by UKIP NE
Spokesman Richard Elvin this morning at
a well received protest against the
tolls on the new Tyne Tunnel. Car
drivers and truckers alike tooted their
agreement as campaigners unfurled their
banners above the A19 southern approach
road, and local newspapers and radio
were in attendance to witness it all.

Mr Elvin
said, "Building and maintaining the
roads is what we pay car tax for, and
the tolls represent the worst form of
double taxation as, for the next 29
years, they will end up in the pockets
of the shareholders of a large foreign
company, rather than being reinvested in
either the roads or the local economy.

“In the depth of a recession, the last
thing we should be doing is penalising
commuters and small businesses by
imposing tolls, which simply serve to
drag money out of the local economy.

“If you have to use the tunnel to get to
work every day and earn the minimum
wage, your weekly toll fees represent
almost three hours of work.”

Nigel Farage joins
campaigners in Dartford
Monday 18th March 2013 10:30hrsUKIP Leader
Nigel Farage MEP joined campaigners
against the tolls on the Dartford
Crossing this morning as the campaign
kicked off in Dartford. Motorists tooted
their support as Nigel and the local
campaign team unfurled banners from the
overpass at J1A of the M25 just before
the toll plaza as rush hour traffic
began to build up just after 8am

Mr Farage
said, "Whichever way you look at it,
these tolls are a disgrace. They're bad
for business, bad for the environment,
and they represent 30 years of broken
promises by politicians who promised
they would go when the crossing was paid
for, which it was several years ago."

Mr Batten
said, "The Congestion Charge is a
failure on its own terms. Traffic speeds
in London are lower now than they were
before the charge was introduced -
London's traffic moves slower than when
all traffic was horse-drawn a century
ago. The other great supposed benefit -
reduced pollution levels - has not
happened either, with pollutant levels
on all major roads, including those
outside the zone, continuing to rise.
The charge should be scrapped now.

"This is
nothing more than a tax on drivers, with
over half being eaten up in
administering the scheme. It is a tax on
going to work which hits the lowest paid
the hardest."

National Campaign
against Tolls to Launch
Monday 11th March 2013 14:00hrsCampaigners
will be out in force next Monday, the
18th March, displaying banners at toll
crossings and charge zones across the
UK. Lead by UKIP Leader Nigel Farage MEP
at the Dartford Crossing, campaigners
will be in the London Congestion Charge
Zone, at the Mersey Crossing, on the M6
Toll Road, at the Tyne Tunnel and at the
Severn Bridge. If you see us there, give
us a 'toot!' as you go by, and don't
forget to sign up either via e-mail or
on Facebook to keep up to date with the
campaign!

Mersey Tunnel
campaign launched
Monday 14th January 2013 09:00hrsUKIP
Merseyside MEP Paul Nuttall was among
protesters at the launch of the campaign
against the Mersey Tunnel tolls on
Monday morning. Braving the poor weather
conditions, 20 protesters gathered in
Wallasey on a bridge above the toll
plaza, while reporters from local media
tackled Paul over the aims of the
campaign, which featured on 9 local
radio stations and in several local
newspapers across Merseyside.

A
licence to print money
Monday 14th January 2013 08:00hrsHave you
ever wished you had a license to print
money? If you operated the Mersey
Tunnels, that's exactly what you'd have,
to the tune of over £37,000,000 a year,
fleeced from up to 95,000 drivers a day
each paying between £1.50 and £6 a time.

But why
should they go? There's a whole raft of
reasons: they break promises made
repeatedly for over 30 years, they're an
environmental disaster,
putting the health of thousands of
children at risk through the high levels
of Nitrogen Dioxide and Particulate
pollution caused by stationary traffic
at the tolls, they restrict business by
adding costs - you know the reasons as
well as we do!

A long time
opponent of tolls
Monday 14th January 2013 08:00hrs Local
MEP Paul Nuttall has been fighting
against the tolls for years - he's not
some johnny-come-lately jumping on a
bandwagon! With calls dating back years
for the tolls to go, local lad Paul
knows the damage they cause to local
people and local businesses. See his
earlier calls for the tolls to go
here

UKIPs
opposition to tolls is longstanding -
Nigel Farage and Gerard Batten launched
their original 'Scrap the Tolls'
campaign back in 2005 at the Dartford
Crossing - read about it on the BBC
here

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